A Memorable Tale

41 | Beauxbatons and Durmstrang

After the final class, we all made our way to the front of the school where everyone watched as the foreign schools approached. "There!" a sixth year pointed.

Something came hurtling through the sky and my hands went to my mouth to hide my excited grin. "Pegasi!"

Multiple pegasi pulled a large carriage through the sky, landing near the shore of the Black Lake.

Then, in a completely different area, a ship surfaced from within the water.

"That's Durmstrang!" Mandy squealed.

The ship glided towards the bank and the anchor was thrown.

Everyone was led to the Great Hall, chattering excitedly.

"Beauxbatons is the school with the pretty French ladies, isn't it?" Anthony asked.

"Sure, yeah."

Everyone took their seats and Dumbledore stood before everyone, smiling. "Please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and their Headmistress, Madam Maxime!"

The girls elegantly strutted in, every so often stopping to let out a pretty sigh, holding out their hands towards the tables.

They got to the front and curtsied, butterflies fluttering from between them.

Headmistress Maxime came walking in after. She was a tremendously large woman, even compared to Dumbledore, who was quite tall himself but appeared short beside Madam Maxime.

An acrobat cartwheeled down the aisle while another student did pirouettes.

As the small butterflies disappeared, they all bowed and took their seats at Ravenclaw table, one of them taking a seat beside me.

"Bonjour," I greeted, making my friends snap their heads towards me. "Comment était votre voyage?"

(Hello, how was your journey?)

The girls from Beauxbatons raised her brows in surprise, then one smiled and answered, "C'était un peu long mais je pense que ca vaut la peine."

(It was a bit long but I think it was worth it)

She turned away and Michael grabbed my arm. "You can speak French?"

"Picked it up from the Malfoys."

Dumbledore raised his hands and the cheers and claps died down. "And now our friends from the north! Please greet the proud sons of Durmstrang and their headmaster, Igor Karkaroff!"

Tall, muscular men entered the room with tall staffs that all bashed against the floor in unison. They spun their staffs then placed them on the floor so they could do their own acrobatics.

One ran forward and did a cartwheel.

Two others joined him and continued doing tricks with their staffs.

Then came the headmaster, and marching right in front of him was, "Viktor Krum!" Sue squealed quietly.

Cedric and I found each other's gaze from across the room, grinning at each other.

Durmstrang decided to take a seat at the Slytherin table, not much to my surprise. They practiced the Dark Arts, their headmaster was a Death Eater before, it makes sense.

I glanced at the Beauxbatons students beside me, seeing that the girls I had spoken to seemed a lot happier than the rest of their school mates. I had heard that Beauxbatons was rather... snobby, for lack of better word. I hadn't realized they'd make it seem like it was the North Pole in Britain.